[tosca100]

Bless him, it was bitterly cold a couple of weeks ago (or less) with night temperatures down to -16 and not rising above -8 during the day. It has warmed up considerably now but our poor beautiful boy has been left with frostbite on his extremeties. The young boys have got away with it as the nursery is bigger, better insulated and has a lamp, but the grown-up's shed is too small and low to put a lamp in. Looks as if Sevi will be left with a spikeless comb and his wattles don't look great either. He is well in himself though and errmmm busy with his ladies. Hopefully next year we will not have any chicks through winter and the grown ups can have the big room.

[splash101]

Im sure I read somewhere to rub a bit of vaseline on them at night, might be completely made up but i'm sure I read it somewhere.

And i'm moaning because its 1 degree tonight. I would hibernate at -16

[tosca100]

Im sure I read somewhere to rub a bit of vaseline on them at night, might be completely made up but i'm sure I read it somewhere.

And i'm moaning because its 1 degree tonight. I would hibernate at -16

There seems to be several different ideas on this, the main problem seems to be that the vaseline picks up dirt and bedding and more damage can be done when the bird tries to rub it off. It is too late for Sevi now and we do not have any more severe weather forecast. Next year he will be in a different building.

And I did nearly hibernate, just going out in turn with OH to regularly de-ice the waters and give warm mash, which froze to the dish if they didn't eat it fast enough! It's a hell of a learning curve, but we only lost one of the 18, and she had a growth so not cold related. Next year we will be more prepared.

[barley]

poor boy xx

[New shoot]

Poor Sevi    He won't care one little bit mind 

My Alphie lost the first two spikes on his comb to a fight with his brother Foghorn and he still reckons he's Captain Fantastic   

[Trillium]

Found a bit more info for you on frostbitten chickens:  HERE

Don't know if you can get hold of any coconut oil (actually, it's thick like butter) because it's quite oily and very lubricating. I use it in soap recipes for high emollient content.